Metabolic Syndrome Among The Obstetric Population

Based on estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO), chronic diseases were responsible for as many deaths as infections, malnutrition, perinatal death, and death during pregnancy (Hilmsworth, 1936). Chronic diseases are no longer diseases of the western world only. As of today, four out of five deaths due to chronic diseases will occur in low and middle-income countries. Europe and North America have experienced a gradual modification of lifestyle over several centuries, where a diet based on a high intake of carbohydrates replaced the traditional hunter-gatherer diet with a high protein intake. Similar changes have occurred in third-world countries, but in many cases, the transition has taken place over decades ¿ not centuries. A combination of increased access to food and decreasing demands with respect to physical activity has led to the increasing prevalence of obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and hyperglycemia/diabetes, a combination of features often referred to as a metabolic syndrome.